Previously, on The X-Files...
by Lizxphile
Summary: My own continuation of "Within", written during the week before "Without" premiered.


Title: "Previously, on The X-Files..." (A continuation of "Within")  
Author: Liz S. (sporkfowley@aol.com)  
Rating: PG  
Category: General, major spoilers for "Within"  
Authors notes: I wrote this the night of the premiere during an incurable bout of insomnia; I guess it's my thoughts on what's going to happen (or what I wish would happen) I'm not really sure I have Doggett's character down yet, but I'm learning. May be slightly fuzzy or unresolved, but I bet "Without" is going to be pretty unresolved too. Soooo here goes.  
  
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Previously, on The X-Files...  
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As Doggett stood on the embankment in the desert staring at Mulder in amazement, Gibson broke lose and ran towards him. Mulder started after him, but Doggett continued to firmly point the gun at him.  
"Stay where you are, Agent Mulder," he said steadily as Mulder advanced and Gibson cowered behind him.  
"Sir, that's not Agent Mulder," Gibson spoke up in a tiny frightened voice. Doggett frowned and turned slightly toward the boy. It was in that one moment of uncertainty that a strong force suddenly knocked him off his feet and he tumbled to the ground, the gun flying out of his hands. He was rendered unconscious due to hitting his head on a rock, and the last thing he saw before he blacked out was the terrified face of Gibson above him.  
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"Agent Doggett?" Skinner took his pulse and sighed in a relieved manner. "He'll be ok, just unconscious."  
Scully was standing a few feet away from Doggett and Skinner and the others, staring out over the desert. She couldn't care less about Doggett, but wanted to know what he'd seen. Turning at the sound of Skinner's voice, she made her way back to Doggett's side.  
"What the hell happened?" she muttered, kneeling beside Doggett to bandage the wound on his head. As she did so, he stirred ever so slightly and opened his eyes.  
"Agent Scully?"  
"What?" Scully replied tartly, continuing to tend to his injury.  
"He was here. With the boy, but.. they got away."  
Scully stopped what she was doing and looked disapprovingly at him. "You let him get away?" she asked shrilly, attracting the attention of the other agents in the immediate vicinity. "How the hell can you lose someone who was standing right in front of you in the goddamned desert?" She stood up and glared down at Doggett with a look of pure hatred. "You let him get away!..." she repeated to herself, then turned away. "Can't wait to hear what Kersh has to say about this."  
Another agent finished with Doggett while Skinner jogged after Scully, who had begun walking out into the desert. He caught up to her and grabbed her arm; she turned to face him, and he saw that tears were streaming down her face.  
"That bastard let Mulder get away!" Scully exclaimed in a sob, then gestured to the desert. "He's gone!"  
Skinner sighed, then enveloped Scully in a hug and let her cry, which she was trying hard to cease. A tear rolled down Skinner's cheek as he stood there with her.  
Scully pulled away and wiped her eyes. "We need to get the latest satellite data from the Gunmen, then start searching again. We should -"  
Skinner cut her off. "Scully, no. Settle down. What we need to do is go back to Washington and carefully plan our next move. With Doggett. I know you don't like him, but we have to work with him." Scully put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes.  
"He has no idea what he's dealing with or looking for," she commented, watching Doggett unsteadily stand up and walk over to the van waiting for him.  
"Sounds like someone I once knew. She was assigned to work on cases that had no scientific explanation, and shot down all irrational unscientific theories for the longest time. But she learned." Skinner paused. "Just give him a chance, ok?"  
"Funny, sir. I can draw no parallels between Agent Doggett and myself, and for all we know he could be working for them and lying to us."  
Skinner smiled ruefully. "7 years ago, your new partner thought the same about you, didn't he?"  
Scully stared at Skinner. "I don't trust him. I could probably find Mulder easier without him." She then stalked away to one of the vans, leaving Skinner standing alone. He let her go, figuring she wanted to be alone, and went to talk to Doggett.  
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Back in Washington  
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"Agent Doggett, will you please repeat what you saw for us? There seems to be some confusion over a few matters." Kersh took off his glasses and sat back, waiting for Doggetts recount again.  
Doggett shifted in his seat and looked slightly uncomfortable. "It's just as I wrote in my report, sir. The boy had escaped out the window, I followed 2 sets of footprints until I saw Agent Mulder holding the boy by force. I told Mulder to release him - Gibson got away from him and ran towards me, then when I turned to look at him, something knocked me over and out. When I came too, both Mulder and the boy were gone without a trace."  
Scully, sitting between Skinner and Doggett, rolled her eyes and stood up. "How can someone disappear in the desert?"  
Kersh replaced his glasses and peered over them at Doggett. "I find myself wondering the same thing, Agent. There aren't many places to hide out there. Do you remember anything else about Mulder that might help us at all?"  
Doggett thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No, sir."  
Skinner stood up at that point. "Why don't we reconvene later after we've thought this through a bit more and talked with each other? I think we all need some time to calm down and collect our thoughts."  
"Agreed. Be back here tomorrow morning." Kersh took Doggett's report and leafed through it as the three agents quietly left the room, and Skinner and Doggett followed Scully down to the basement.  
"Allright, now you can speak freely," Skinner said to Doggett. Scully leaned back on the door and crossed her arms. Doggett looked from one to another and shook his head again.  
"Everything I saw is in my report!"  
"Like hell it is!" Skinner exclaimed angrily, towering menacingly over Doggett. "You tell us everything or we can arrange for Kersh to find out that you're withholding information from this investigation, because I'm damn sure you are. Believe me, I can find out for sure if you don't tell us the truth."  
Scully spoke up. "Come on Doggett, are you afraid of your *real* boss? Where are you loyalties for real? We know all about the forces at work in this agency, there isn't anything you can hide from us."  
"*What* are you talking about?" Doggett exclaimed defensively, stepping back. "My loyalties? To whom?"  
Skinner glanced at Scully. "Can I have a word with you? In private?"  
Scully shot a look at Doggett and walked out into the hallway, with Skinner close behind her.  
"I don't think he knows what's really going on here. He seems genuinely confused by all this."  
Frowning, Scully shook her head. "Sir, we have no idea. Krycek put up a pretty good facade at first, didn't he? And you know what he hasn't told us? How he found out about Gibson Praise, because I sure as hell didn't tell him anything. They could've sent him to get Gibson and destroy him - I mean, he ran when he saw Doggett, right?"  
Skinner sighed. "Ok, ok, I was wondering about that too. But we have to try to gain his trust and find out what else he knows."  
With a sigh, Scully turned back into the office, where Doggett was patiently waiting, and sat down.  
"Ok Agent Doggett, are you sure there isn't anything you're not telling us about?"  
Doggett looked uncomfortable. "There is one thing --"  
Scully pursed her lips and leaned back in her chair. "I knew it! You --"  
"Let him finish," Skinner interjected, and Scully fell silent.  
"Before I was knocked out, Gibson said something. He said Mulder wasn't really Mulder."  
The office was filled with a deafening silence as Scully's face took on an incredulous look and Skinner rubbed his temples.  
"And why didn't you tell Kersh this?" Skinner asked.  
"I don't trust him. I thought I should tell you two first since you were closest to Mulder and all."  
Scully snickered softly, which got her a look from Skinner.  
"You don't trust him? What do you know about who and who not to trust in this situation?" she shot at Doggett.   
"I feel that he isn't telling me the whole story. Especially after someone gave me this." Doggett reached into his bag and pulled out an x-file, labeled #1013-113 and handed it to Scully. She opened it and, glancing over it's contents, frowned.  
"Is this... this must be one of the stolen files, it's Gibsons!! Where did you get it?"  
"It was slipped under my door the other night, I don't know who it was," Doggett told her. "But it's what got me to make the connection with Gibson and Mulder. How'd you find out?"  
Scully closed the file. "We were on the original case 3 years ago, I just figured it out," she retorted, being careful not to mention the satellite tracking of the UFO in Arizona. "We knew Gibson was in Arizona somewhere and thought Mulder, or whoever is pretending to be Mulder might be looking for him." She paused. "But Gibson said it wasn't Mulder?"  
Doggett nodded. "That was all he said to me."  
"You're sure it was Mulder?" Skinner asked, and before Doggett could reply, Scully suddenly gasped.  
"Sir, can we talk --" Scully left the room again, and Skinner cast an apologetic glance at Doggett and followed Scully.  
"I know who it was!" she blurted out to Skinner once the door was shut behind them. Skinner frowned questioningly.  
"It was the shapeshifting alien, I know it! He came to me as Mulder once and I couldn't tell the difference. Gibson was right, he must have been after him and disguised himself as Mulder!"  
Skinner blinked. "Shapeshifting alien?"  
"Oh come on, you must know who I'm talking about. We can't tell Doggett about this, he'll tell Kersh. I don't care what he says about not trusting Kersh."  
"Slow down. Even if you are right, what are we gonna do about it? How can we find them again?" Skinner asked.  
Scully fell silent. "We'll have to think about that..."  
Skinner returned into the office with Scully close behind, and addressed Doggett. "Agent Doggett. You're dismissed, Agent Scully and I need to tend to some business. We'll meet back here in the morning before seeing Kersh."  
Doggett nodded. "Ok. But, please.." He paused, with. "Try not to keep me in the dark, ok? I'm supposed to be leading this search and I need to know everything." Glancing once more at Scully and Skinner and picking up his bag, he nodded politely and left the office.  
"Let's get over to the Gunmen right away," Scully said, gathering her jacket and bag and brushing by Skinner.   
"Wait! Do you even know what you're looking for?" Skinner asked, following Scully out of the office.  
"I don't know. The latest position of the UFO might help us figure out where it's headed and what it's looking for."  
Skinner nodded. "Ok, but don't get your hopes up. It could be gone by now."  
Scully shook her head. "I don't think they're done yet. They're removing evidence, right? If we find out where they are we can figure out what they're after."  
Shrugging and nodding, Skinner followed Scully as she left the building, on the way to the Gunmen for the latest satellite data. He feared that Scully would become too optimistic about finding Mulder, then be disappointed when it didn't work out as she'd thought it would. Personally, Skinner had little hope that following the UFO would lead them to Mulder, but he went along with Scully, hoping the slim chance they had would yield results.  
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"Well, here's the last location you were at." Langly pointed to Arizona on a map. "And here's the current position of the electromagnetic disturbances. Moved up and over to somewhere here in Virginia, it's been there for a good number of hours."  
"What area of Virginia?" Scully asked, staring at the spot Langly was point to on the map.  
"Um... lot of mountains, some ski resorts, not much there," Byers replied.  
Skinner frowned. "Scully, isn't Skyland Mountain around there?"  
Scully's eyes widened. "It is! That's where Duane Barry took me... oh my god. We've got to get out there right away."  
The Gunmen looked at each other. "It's been there for longer than it was in Arizona, so you might wanna get over there quick in case it leaves," Frohike told Scully. "You guys need anything?"  
"We'll be fine. Thanks, guys." Scully was already hurriedly making for the door. Skinner threw a look of gratitude at the Gunmen as he and Scully breezed out the door and to Scully's car.  
"We aren't going to just go up there, are we? Shouldn't we tell someone and gather a team to bring up with us?" Skinner asked, settling into the car. Scully shook her head.  
"Of course not! Doggett'll want to go with us, which he can't, and he'd just mess it up like he messed it up in Arizona."  
Skinner consented as Scully peeled out of the driveway, on the warpath to Skyland Mountain. She didn't know quite what they were looking for, but she knew that was where Mulder would be; she felt this was their last chance.  
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Skyland Mountain  
7:30pm  
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Scully parked the car on the edge of a small dirt road that led up to the summit of Skyland Mountain, and nudged Skinner awake.  
"We're here, sir. Let's go."  
They both got out of the car with flashlights in hand and started the short hike up the path to the summit. The woods around them were dark and disconcerting, and Scully quietly drew her gun.  
"Do you really think we'll find him?" Skinner whispered as they approached the clearing at the top of the mountain. Scully put a finger to her lips and stopped walking. Nothing moved or made a sound; complete and utter silence filled the air. The stars glinted overhead, the sentinels of the universe, with the secret of Mulder's location hidden within them. Scully stopped breathing at the awe of the silent empty sky.  
"Scully..." Skinner again whispered in the softest tone. "Mulder and I used laser beams to see if the ship was near us. I don't have as many as we used, but I do have one." He pulled a small laser pointer out of his pocket and glanced at Scully for approval. She nodded, and they proceeded to the outer edge of the clearing. Skinner turned the laser beam on and directed it straight through the center of the clearing.   
"Oh my god..." Scully breathed. The beam had halted a few meters away from them and bounced back to a point on Skinner's chest. Where the beam had stopped, a faint rippling in the surrounding air could be seen.  
"There it is." Skinner quickly turned off the pointer. "Now what?"  
"Wait." Scully frowned and pointed to the opposite side of the clearing. Far away down another path, the faint sound of cars could be heard coming up the mountain. Scully's eyes widened.  
"I bet they're all abductees being called here by them," she whispered, then paused, a frightened look crossing her face. "Then why am I not being called?"  
Before Skinner could reply, the sound of the cars, which had been drawing closer, stopped, and a few seconds later he and Scully could hear people walking up the path, talking in hushed tones with one another.  
"We have to warn them!" Scully set off around the perimeter of the clearing with Skinner following closely, and just as she reached the path, Skinner caught her arm.  
"No. Wait and see what they do first," he told her quietly, and led her a few feet into the woods where they wouldn't be seen by the approaching people.  
They knelt down and waited; within 2 minutes, a group of people came into view at the end of the path and stopped, circling together and talking amongst themselves.  
"I'm going out." Without waiting for Skinner, Scully left the hiding place and headed towards the group. Upon hearing footsteps, the people turned to face her.  
"Are you one of us?" one woman asked of Scully, jogging over to her. Scully looked at the woman and felt a sense of recognition, though she knew she had never met the woman in her life.  
"No, I'm here to warn you. You don't know what's about to happen to you, but I do. They're removing evidence -- specifically abductees. Possibly to destroy them. You all have to leave." Scully stood looking at all the people who were now listening to her, and turned around, pulling her hair back. "Believe me, I know."  
At that moment, a bright light suddenly filled the clearing, and all the people gasped. Skinner, who had run up next to Scully, grabbed her arm and dragged her back to the safety of the woods as all the abductees flocked toward the center of the clearing.  
"No!!! Wait!" Scully yelled at Skinner. Then she stopped dead in her tracks, as did Skinner, and stared at the ship that had just materialized above them. Skinner shook himself and started towards the woods with Scully again.  
"No!!! I can't let them take you along with all the others!" he yelled back, as Scully struggled against him. The abductees were now gathered directly under the middle of the ship, gazing up into the light, seemingly in no fear. Scully tried once again to free herself from Skinner but failed.  
"Mulder!!! Mulder!!" she screamed over the wind that had begun blowing over the woods and clearing. "Mulder!"  
One blinding flash of light caused Scully and Skinner to let go of one another and shield their eyes. When the light was subdued, Scully again looked to the clearing, and wasn't surprised to see that all the people were gone. The light had dulled, and she watched with tears in her eyes as the ship slowly lifted up over the trees and started to move away. Skinner, again holding firmly on to her arm, stared up as well as the ship moved out of view. Scully gave one violent jerk and freed herself from his grip, running out into the middle of the clearing to watch the ship disappear into the sky.   
"Mulder..." she called out, then let out a sob as the ship vanished from view, melding with the night sky and becoming invisible.  
"Scully." Skinner ran over to her and looked up to where she was still gazing, but the ship was nowhere to be seen. He took her hand, and they stood there together, Scully silently crying and Skinner letting a tear fall from his eye. After a short time, he gently began leading her back toward the path they had come up, leaving the clearing and any hope of finding Mulder behind.  
Skinner drove them back to DC, neither of them saying a word the whole way, back to Scully's apartment. Scully had fallen asleep, and Skinner woke her up and walked her upstairs. At her door, she turned to him and looked down at the floor.  
"We have no hope now, do we?" Before he could answer, she answered her own question. "No, we don't. He's gone now, I know it."  
Skinner sighed. "Maybe not. We should see if we can find the ship from the satellite data again."  
Scully shook her head. "I just have this feeling that it's over..." she started to cry again, and Skinner put his arms around her in a comforting hug.  
"You just get some rest and we'll talk about this tomorrow, ok?" She nodded and entered the apartment, then turned back to him.  
"But you don't have a car... let me drive you home."  
"No, no I'll get a cab. Get some rest, I'll call you in the morning." Skinner shut the door, and Scully stumbled over to her couch, falling onto it in a new fit of tears, and fell asleep right there, not to wake up until the morning.  
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Next morning  
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"And why didn't you tell me about this theory of yours?" Doggett shot at Skinner the next morning in Scully's office. Scully and Skinner had returned to the FBI next morning and told Doggett of their trip to Skyland Mountain. They hadn't told him their rationale for going, just that they'd had cases similar to Gibson Praise's case that involved Skyland Mountain.   
"Because we didn't want you go bringing a whole team of agents up there. Agent Doggett, you have no idea what you're dealing with and shouldn't have to know all our reasons," Scully told him hotly.  
"Then what am I supposed to tell Kersh in an hour?"  
"*You* aren't telling him anything about this, *we're* all telling him we've made no further progress on this case," Skinner replied. "You don't disagree on that point, do you?"  
Doggett looked from Skinner to Scully, both of whom were giving him less than friendly looks. He let out a sigh and put his hands up.  
"Fine. I don't disagree that we've made no more progress, so that's what I -- we're going to tell him." He then brushed by Skinner and left the room. Scully shook her head and followed him up to Kersh's office with Skinner, ready to give their final report.   
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FIN  
  
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